Last Loose End
by BellatrixLestrangey
Summary: First prompt for the Avatar 15th anniversary challenge; Forgiveness. Azula makes amends with Iroh.


Azula's discomfort grows with each reluctant step. "Trust me, it'll be fine." Zuko promises. "He can't be harder to talk to than Mai was."

But somehow, Azula finds it more daunting to speak with her uncle.

The man is her last loose end.

Even if it doesn't go well, she supposes that it would be better to have some kind of clouser. "Do you want me to come with you?" Zuko asks.

Even without her pride as a factor, she feels as though she should enter alone. She almost asks him to accompany her in spite of it-she imagines that Iroh will go easier on her with his nephew in the room. Instead she shakes her head. "I should talk to him on my own."

Zuko nods. "I'll be waiting out here then." He offers her a final reassuring smile.

She finds Iroh sitting cross legged on the floor before a pai sho board with a steaming cup of tea.

"Uncle." She greets somewhat curly.

He turns his head.

"May I sit?"

He clars is pai sho board and sets up the pieces once more. He motions to the spot across from him. She takes her seat.

For a time, they simply take turns moving pieces as she picked her brain for a good way to begin the conversation.

She almost comments that he must hate her. But that sounds too accusatory. She can't quite bring herself to begin with an apology-there's too much ground to cover there anyways. She can tell him...promise him that she is not her father, that she's trying to shed the habits he instilled within her. That sounds logical to her.

Instead she finds herself saying, "Zuzu and I are getting along better. We still argue quite a bit but we usually resolve it pretty quickly.

"He has mentioned." Iroh replies, he takes another sip of tea. "He speaks kindly of you."

"He...he does?" Her belly fills with a hopeful sort of warmth.

Iroh nods and holds out a cup, "do you want some?"

Azula accepts the cup. Zuzu had put in a good word for her. She cradles the teacup in her hands. "He said that I should talk to you." She pauses. "I suppose that I have been meaning to. I just didn't know what to say."

Iroh nods, "sometimes you don't need to say anything. Your father said a lot; he apologized to Ursa and I over and over again. He told me that there was no bad blood between us." He sets the cup down. "Every action he took said otherwise."

Her stomach sinks. "I'm not like father, I'm trying not to be." She stares into her own cup, contemplating whether or not it is working. "But he...I've been like this for so long that I don't know how else to be." She doesn't know who else to be.

Iroh's expression softens. He takes her hand. "I know that. Zuko has mentioned that you've changed a lot."

She bites the inside of her lip. "It's difficult. I feel like when this is all over that there's going to be nothing left of me." It is the first time she has put her fear into words. But maybe it is a good thing that there will be no trace of the old her.

Iroh gives a soft chuckle. "Nothing but the best of you."

Azula furrows her brows.

"Sometimes it isn't about change at all. It's about dropping or shifting things." He pauses. "You let go of your worst traits and keep the good ones."

She takes a drink from her cup, just to give herself something to do.

"You've let go of resentment and cruelty. You don't miss those things, do you?"

She shakes her head. "Not really, no."

"You've kept your confidence and cunning. And Zuko has mentioned, your competitiveness. You are still you."

It is reassuring to hear that she hasn't lost herself entirely. "I should probably let go of my cunning.

"No." Iroh says. "You should shift your cunning."

"Shift it?"

He nods. "Use it to help your brother and your friends. You have some dangerous traits, yes. But you can make something good of them. THat's what I did." He pauses again." It is less difficult to change _how _you use your personality traits than to get rid of them."

She supposes that, that makes sense.

"I do not hate you, niece. It was just that for a long time, you reminded me of the man I was. I had a hard time observing you because I was looking at what I could have been."

"Why didn't you try to help me?" She asks before she can stop herself.

But he doesn't look on her with hatred. "Truthfully, I was looking out for your brother, I felt that he needed my help more. More truthfully, I feared your father's wrath and feared a reminder of what I used to be."

She nods. She couldn't promise that she would have accepted his help anyhow.

"If you would let me, I would like to help you now."

But now she has been humbled enough to do just that. "You already have."

Iroh smiles again. "Then let's continue that trend, if you can stomach my lengthy anecdotes."

Slightly humored, she replies, "I think that I'll be able to tolerate them in moderation."

He squeezes her hand. "Bring your brother in, we'll have dinner together."


End file.
